Mg-Al layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and their derived mixed oxides grown by laser techniques

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been widely studied due to their applications as multifunctional materials, catalysts, host materials, anionic exchangers, adsorbents for environmental contaminants and for the immobilization of biological materials. As thin films, LDHs are good candidates for novel applications as sensors, corrosion resistant coatings or components in electro optical devices. For these applications, lamellar orientation-controlled film has to be fabricated.In this work, the successful deposition of LDH and their derived mixed oxides thin films by laser techniques is reported. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) were the methods used for thin films deposition. The ability of Mg-Al LDHs as a carrier for metallic particles (Ag) has been considered. Frozen targets containing 10% powder in water were used for MAPLE, while for PLD the targets consisted in dry-pressed pellets.The structure and the surface morphology of the deposited films were examined by X-ray Diffraction, Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry.

Research highlights▶ Deposition of highly adherent thin films of double layered hydroxides of Mg and Al and their derived mixed oxides. ▶ Oriented LDH films were obtained by MAPLE from targets with the atomic ratio Mg/Al = 3. ▶ PLD and MAPLE can be used to produce thin films displaying highly dispersed nano-sized Ag particles.